register of the land-office, upon the filing of such application, plat, field-notes, notices, and affidavits, shall publish a notice that such application has been made, for the period of sixty days, in a newspaper to be by him designated as published nearest to said claim; and he shall also post such notice in his office for the same period. The claimant, at the time of filing this application, or at any time thereafter within the sixty days of publication, shall file with the register a certificate of the United States surveyor-general that five hundred dollars' worth of labor has been expended or improvements made upon the claim by himself or grantors; that the plat is correct, with such further description by such reference to natural objects or permanent monuments as shall identify the claim, and furnish an accurate description, to be incorporated in the patent. At the expiration of the sixty days of publication, the claimant shall file his affidavit showing that the plat and notice have been posted in a conspicuous place on the claim during said period of publication. If no adverse claim shall have been filed with the register and the receiver of the proper land-office at the expiration of the sixty days of publication, it shall be assumed that the applicant is entitled to a patent, upon the payment to the proper officer of five dollars per acre, and that no adverse claim exists; and thereafter no objection from third parties to the issuance of a patent shall be heard, except it be shown that the applicant has failed to comply with this act.

SEC. 7. That, where an adverse claim shall be filed during the period of publication, it shall be upon oath of the person or persons making the same, and shall show the nature, boundaries, and extent of such adverse claim, and all proceedings, except the publication of notice and making and filing of the affidavit thereof, shall be stayed until the controversy shall have been settled or decided by a court of competent jurisdiction, or the adverse claim waived. It shall be the duty of the adverse claimant, within thirty days after filing his claim, to commence proceedings in a court of competent jurisdiction, to determine the question of the right of possession, and prosecute the same with reasonable diligence to final judgment; and a failure so to do shall be a waiver of his adverse claim. After such judgment shall have been rendered, the party entitled to the possession of the claim, or any portion thereof, may, without giving further notice, file a certified copy of the judgment-roll with the register of the land-office, together with the certificate of the surveyor-general that the requisite amount of labor has been expended, or improvements made thereon, and the description required in other cases, and shall pay to the receiver five dollars per acre for his claim, together with the proper fees, whereupon the whole proceedings and the judgment-roll shall be certified by the register to the Commissioner of the General Land-Office, and a patent shall issue thereon for the claim, or such portion thereof as the applicant shall appear, from the decision of the court, to rightly possess. If it shall appear from the decision of the court, that several parties are entitled to separate and different portions of the claim, each party may pay for his portion of the claim, with the proper fees, and file the certificate and description by the surveyor-general, whereupon the register shall certify the proceedings and judgment-roll to the Commissioner of the General Land-Office, as in the preceding case, and patents shall issue to the several parties according to their respective rights. Proof of citizenship under this act, or the acts of July twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, and July ninth, eighteen hundred and seventy, in the case of an individual, may consist of his own affidavit thereof, and in case of an association of persons unincorporated of the affidavit of their authorized agent, made on his own knowledge, or upon information and belief, and in case of a corporation organized under the laws of the United States, or of any state or territory of the United States, by the filing of a certified copy of their charter or certificate of incorporation; and nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent the alienation of the title conveyed by patent for a mining-claim to any person whatever.

SEC. 8. That the description of vein or lode claims, upon surveyed lands, shall designate the location of the claim with reference to the lines of the public surveys, but need not conform therewith; but where a patent shall be issued, as aforesaid, for claims upon unsurveyed lands, the surveyor-general, in extending the surveys, shall adjust the same to the boundaries of such patented claim, according to the plat or description thereof, but so as in no case to interfere with or change the location of any such patented claim.

SEC. 9. That sections one, two, three, four, and six of an act entitled "An act granting the right of way to ditch and canal owners over the public lands, and for other purposes", approved July twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, are hereby repealed, but such repeal shall not affect existing rights. Applications for patents for mining-claims now pending may be prosecuted to a final decision in the General Land-Office; but in such cases where adverse rights are not affected thereby, patents may issue in pursuance of the provisions of this act; and all patents for mining-claims heretofore issued under the act of July twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, shall convey all the rights and privileges conferred by this act where no adverse rights exist at the time of the passage of this act.

SEC. 10. That the act entitled "An act to amend an act granting the right of way to ditch and canal owners over the public lands, and for other purposes", approved July ninth, eighteen hundred and seventy, shall be and remain in full force, except as to the proceedings to obtain a patent, which shall be similar to the proceedings prescribed by sections six and seven of this act for obtaining patents to vein or lode claims; but where said placerclaims shall be upon surveyed lands, and conform to legal subdivisions, no further survey or plat shall be required, and all placer-mining claims hereafter located shall conform as near as practicable with the United States system of public-land surveys and the rectangular subdivisions of such surveys, and no such location shall include more than twenty acres for each individual claimant, but where placer-claims cannot be conformed to legal subdivisions, survey

and plat shall be made as on unsurveyed lands: Provided, That proceedings now pending may be prosecuted to their final determination under existing laws; but the provisions of this act, when not in conflict with existing laws, shall apply to such cases: And provided also, That where, by the segregation of mineral land in any legal subdivision, a quantity of agricultural land less than forty acres remains, said fractional portion of agricultural land may be entered, by any party qualified by law, for homestead or pre-emption purposes.

SEC. 11. That where the same person, association, or corporation is in possession of a placer-claim, and also a vein or lode included within the boundaries thereof, application shall be made for a patent for the placer-claim, with the statement that it includes such vein or lode, and in such case (subject to the provisions of this act and the act entitled "An act to amend an act granting the right of way to ditch and canal owners over the public lands, and for other purposes", approved July ninth, eighteen hundred and seventy) a patent shall issue for the placer-claim, including such vein or lode, upon the payment of five dollars per acre for such vein or lode-claim and twenty-five feet of surface on each side thereof. The remainder of the placer-claim, or any placer-claim not embracing any vein or lode claim, shall be paid for at the rate of two dollars and fifty cents per acre, together with all costs of proceedings; and where a vein or lode, such as is described in the second section of this act, is known to exist within the boundaries of a placer-claim, an application for a patent for such placer-claim, which does not include an application for the vein or lode-claim, shall be construed as a conclusive declaration that the claimant of the placer-claim has no right of possession of the vein or lode-claim; but where the existence of a vein or lode in a placer-claim is not known, a patent for the placer-claim shall convey all valuable mineral and other deposits within the boundaries thereof.

SEC. 12. That the surveyor-general of the United States may appoint in each land district containing mineral lands as many competent surveyors as shall apply for appointment to survey mining-claims. The expenses of the survey of vein or lode-claims, and the survey and subdivision of placer-claims into smaller quantities than one hundred and sixty acres, together with the cost of publication of notices, shall be paid by the applicants, and they shall be at liberty to obtain the same at the most reasonable rates, and they shall also be at liberty to employ any United States deputy surveyor to make the survey. The Commissioner of the General Land-Office shall also have power to establish the maximum charges for surveys and publication of notices under this act; and, in case of excessive charges for publication, he may designate any newspaper published in a land district where mines are situated, for the publication of mining-notices in such district, and fix the rates to be charged by such paper; and, to the end that the Commissioner may be fully informed on the subject, each applicant shall file with the register a sworn statement of all charges and fees paid by said applicant for publication and surveys, together with all fees and money paid the register and the receiver of the land-office, which statement shall be transmitted, with the other papers in the case, to the Commissioner of the General Land-Office. The fees of the register and the receiver shall be five dollars each for filing and acting upon each application for a patent or adverse claim filed, and they shall be allowed the amount fixed by law for reducing testimony to writing, when done in the land-office, such fees and allowances to be paid by the respective parties; and no other fees shall be charged by them in such cases. Nothing in this act shall be construed to enlarge or affect the rights of either party in regard to any property in controversy at the time of the passage of this act, or of the act entitled "An act granting the right of way to ditch and canal owners over the public lands, and for other purposes", approved July twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, nor shall this act affect any right acquired under said act; and nothing in this act shall be construed to repeal, impair, or in any way affect the provisions of the act entitled "An act granting to A. Sutro the right of way and other privileges to aid in the construction of a draining and exploring tunnel to the Comstock lode, in the state of Nevada", approved July twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and sixty-six.

SEC. 13. That all affidavits required to be made under this act, or the act of which it is amendatory, may be verified before any officer authorized to administer oaths within the land district where the claims may be situated, and all testimony and proofs may be taken before any such officer, and, when duly certified by the officer taking the same, shall have the same force and effect as if taken before the register and receiver of the land-office. In cases of contest as to the mineral or agricultural character of land, the testimony and proofs may be taken as herein provided, on personal notice of at least ten days to the opposing party; or, if said party cannot be found, then by publication of at least once a week for thirty days in a newspaper, to be designated by the register of the land-office as published nearest to the location of such land; and the register shall require proof that such notice has been given.

SEC. 14. That where two or more veins intersect or cross each other, priority of title shall govern, and such prior location shall be entitled to all ore or mineral contained within the space of intersection: Provided, however, That the subsequent location shall have the right of way through said space of intersection for the purposes of the convenient working of the said mine: And provided also, That where two or more veins unite, the oldest or prior location shall take the vein below the point of union, including all the space of intersection.

SEC. 15. That where non-mineral land not contiguous to the vein or lode is used or occupied by the proprietor of such vein or lode for mining or milling purposes, such non-adjacent surface-ground may be embraced and included in an application for a patent for such vein or lode, and the same may be patented therewith, subject to the same preliminary requirements as to survey and notice as are applicable under this act to veins or lodes: Provided, That no location hereafter made of such non-adjacent land shall exceed five acres, and payment for the same must be made

at the same rate as fixed by this act for the superficies of the lode. The owner of a quartz-mill or reduction-works, not owning a mine in connection therewith, may also receive a patent for his mill-site, as provided in this section. SEC. 16. That all acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed: Provided, That nothing contained in this act shall be construed to impair, in any way, rights or interests in mining property acquired under existing laws.

AN ACT to provide for the sale of the lands of the United States containing coal. (Approved March 3, 1873. U. S. Stats., v. 17, p. 607.) Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That any person above the age of twenty-one years who is a citizen of the United States, or who has declared his intention to become such, or any association of persons severally qualified as above, shall, upon application to the register of the proper land-office, have the right to enter, by legal subdivisions, any quantity of vacant coal-lands of the United States not otherwise appropriated or reserved by competent authority, not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres to such individual person, or three hundred and twenty acres to such association, upon payment to the receiver of not less than ten dollars per acre for such lands, where the same shall be situated more than fifteen miles from any completed railroad, and not less than twenty dollars per acre for such lands as shall be within fifteen miles of such road.

SEC. 2. That any person or association of persons, severally qualified as above, who have opened and improved, or shall hereafter open and improve, any coal-mine or mines upon the public lands, and shall be in actual possession of the same, shall be entitled to a preference right of entry, under the foregoing provisions, of the mines so opened and improved: Provided, That when any association of not less than four persons, severally qualified as in section one of this act, shall have expended not less than five thousand dollars in working and improving any such mine or mines, such association may enter not exceeding six hundred and forty acres, including such mining improvements. SEC. 3. That all claims under section two of this act must be presented to the register of the proper land district within sixty days after the date of actual possession and the commencement of improvements on the land by the filing of a declaratory statement therefor: Provided, That when the township plat is not on file at the date of such improvement, filing must be made within sixty days from the receipt of such plat at the district office: And provided further, That where the improvements shall have been made prior to the expiration of three months from the passage of this act, sixty days from the expiration of said three months shall be allowed for the filing of a declaratory statement, and no sale under the provisions of this act shall be allowed until the expiration of six months from the date hereof.

SEC. 4. That this act shall be held to authorize only one entry by the same person or association of persons under its provisions; and no association of persons, any member of which shall have taken the benefit of this act, either as an individual or as a member of any other association, shall enter or hold any other lands under the provisions of this act; and no member of any association which shall have taken the benefit of this act shall enter or hold any other lands under its provisions; and all persons claiming under section two hereof shall be required to prove their respective rights and pay for the lands filed upon within one year from the time prescribed for filing their respective claims; and, upon failure to file the proper notice, or to pay for the land within the required period, the same shall be subject to entry by any other qualified applicant.

SEC. 5. That in case of conflicting claims upon lands where the improvements shall be hereafter commenced, priority of possession and improvement, followed by proper filing and continued good faith, shall determine the preference right to purchase; and also where improvements have already been made at the date of the passage of this act, division of the land claimed may be made, by legal subdivisions, to include, as near as may be, the valuable improvements of the respective parties; and the Commissioner of the General Land-Office shall be, and is hereby, authorized to issue all needful rules and regulations for carrying into effect the provisions of this act.

SEC. 6. That nothing in this act shall be construed to destroy or impair any rights which may have attached prior to its passage, or to authorize the sale of lands valuable for mines of gold, silver, or copper.

[Circular.]

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, GENERAL LAND-OFFICE, Washington, D. C., July 31, 1882. GENTLEMEN: The following sections of the Revised Statutes provide for the sale of coal-lands of the United

States:

TITLE XXXII, CHAP. 6.-MINERAL LANDS AND MINING RESOURCES.

SEC. 2347. Every person above the age of twenty-one years, who is a citizen of the United States, or who has declared his intention to become such, or any association of persous severally qualified as above, shall, upon application to the register of the proper land-office, have the right to enter, by legal subdivisions, any quantity of vacant coal-lands of the United States not otherwise appropriated or reserved by competent authority, not exceedngi one hundred and sixty acres to such individual person, or three hundred and twenty acres

to such association, upon payment to the receiver of not less than ten dollars per acre for such lands, where the same shall be situated more than fifteen miles from any completed railroad, and not less than twenty dollars per acre for such lands as shall be within fifteen miles of such road.

SEC. 2348. Any person or association of persons severally qualified, as above provided, who have opened and improved, or shall hereafter open and improve, any coal-mine or mines upon the public lands, and shall be in actual possession of the same, shall be entitled to a preference right of entry, under the preceding section, of the mines so opened and improved: Provided, That when any association of not less than four persons, severally qualified as above provided, shall have expended not less than five thousand dollars in working and improving any such mine or mines, such association may enter not exceeding six hundred and forty acres, including such mining improvements.

SEC. 2349. All claims under the preceding section must be presented to the register of the proper land district within sixty days after the date of actual possession and the commencement of improvements on the land, by the filing of a declaratory statement therefor; but when the township plat is not on file at the date of such improvement, filing must be made within sixty days from the receipt of such plat at the district office; and where the improvements shall have been made prior to the expiration of three months from the third day of March, eighteen hundred and seventy-three, sixty days from the expiration of such three months shall be allowed for the filing of a declaratory statement, and no sale under the provisions of this section shall be allowed until the expiration of six months from the third day of March, eighteen hundred and seventy-three.

SEC. 2350. The three preceding sections shall be held to authorize only one entry by the same person or association of persons; and no association of persons, any member of which shall have taken the benefit of such sections, either as an individual or as a member of any other association, shall enter or hold any other lands under the provisions thereof; and no member of any association which shall have taken the benefit of such sections shall enter or hold any other lands under their provisions; and all persons claiming under section twenty-three hundred and forty-eight shall be required to prove their respective rights and pay for the lands filed upon within one year from the time prescribed for filing their respective claims; and upon failure to file the proper notice, or to pay for the land within the required period, the same shall be subject to entry by any other qualified applicant.

SEC. 2351. In case of conflicting claims upon coal-lands where the improvements shall be commenced after the third day of March, eighteen hundred and seventy-three, priority of possession and improvement, followed by proper filing and continued good faith, shall determine the preference right to purchase; and also where improvements have already been made prior to the third day of March, eighteen hundred and seventy-three, division of the land claimed may be made, by legal subdivisions, to include, as near as may be, the valuable improvements of the respective parties. The Commissioner of the General Land-Office is authorized to issue all needful rules and regulations for carrying into effect the provisions of this and the four preceding sections.

SEC. 2352. Nothing in the five preceding sections shall be construed to destroy or impair any rights which may have attached prior to the third day of March, eighteen hundred and seventy-three, or to authorize the sale of lands valuable for mines of gold, silver, or copper.

RULES AND REGULATIONS.

Under the authority conferred by said section 2351, the following rules and regulations are issued for carrying into effect the provisions of said law.

1. The sale of coal-lands is provided for

By ordinary private entry under section 2347.

By granting a preference right of purchase, based on priority of possession and improvement, under section 2348.

2. The land entered under either section must be by legal subdivisions, as made by the regular United States survey. Entry is confined to surveyed lands; to such as are vacant, not otherwise appropriated, reserved by competent authority, or containing valuable minerals other than coal.

3. Individuals and associations may purchase. If an individual, he must be twenty-one years of age and a citizen of the United States, or have declared his intention to become such citizen.

4. If an association of persons, each person must be qualified as above.

5. A person is not disqualified by the ownership of any quantity of other land, nor by having removed from his own land in the same state or territory.

6. Any individual may enter, by legal subdivisions, as aforesaid, any area not exceeding 160 acres. 7. Any association may enter not to exceed 320 acres.

8. Any association of not less than four persons, duly qualified, who shall have expended not less than $5,000 in working and improving any coal-mine or mines, may enter, under section 2348, not exceeding 640 acres, including such mining improvements.

9. One person can have the benefit of one entry or filing only. He is disqualified by having made such entry or filing alone, or as a member of an association. No entry can be allowed an association which has in it a single person thus disqualified, as the law prohibits the entry or holding of more than one claim either by an individual or an association.

10. Lands that are sufficiently valuable for gold, silver, or copper to prevent their entry as agricultural lands cannot be entered as coal-lands, and you will not allow any entry to be made, under the above-named provisions of law, of lands valuable for their deposits of said minerals.

11. The present rules relative to "hearings to establish the character of lands", contained in General Land-Office regulations of October 31, 1881, issued under the mining laws, will, as far as applicable, govern your action in determining the character of lands sought to be entered as coal-land.

12. The price per acre is $10 where the land is situated more that 15 miles from any completed railroad, and

$20 per acre where the land is within 15 miles of such road. The price of the land, however, must be determined by its distance from a completed railroad at the date of payment and entry, irrespective of the preference right of entry.

13. When application is made to purchase coal-land at the rate of $10 per acre you will, in all cases, require satisfactory proof that the land applied for is, at date of entry, situated more than 15 miles from any completed railroad. This proof may consist of the affidavit of the applicant, or that of his duly-authorized agent, corroborated by the affidavit of some disinterested credible party showing personal knowledge of the facts.

14. Where the land lies partly within 15 miles of such road and in part outside such limit, the maximum price must be paid for all legal subdivisions, the greater part of which lies within 15 miles of such road.

15. The term "completed railroad" is held to mean one which is actually constructed on the face of the earth; and lands within 15 miles of any point of a railroad so constructed will be held and disposed of at $20 per acre.

16. Any duly-qualified person or association must be preferred as purchasers of those public lands on which they have opened and improved, or shall open and improve, any coal-mine or mines, and which they shall have in actual possession.

17. Possession by agent is recognized as the possession of the principal. The clearest proof on the point of agency must, however, be required in every case, and a clearly-defined possession must be established.

18. The opening and improving of a coal-mine, in order to confer a preference right of purchase, must not be considered as a mere matter of form; the labor expended and improvements made must be such as to clearly indicate the good faith of the claimant.

19. These lands are intended to be sold, where there are adverse claimants therefor, to a party, who, by substantial improvements, actual possession, and a reasonable industry, shows an intention to continue his development of the mines, in preference to those who would purchase for speculative purposes only. With this view you will require such proof of compliance with the law, when lands are applied for under section 2348 by adverse claimants, as the circumstances of each case may justify.

20. In conflicts, where improvements have been, or shall hereafter be, commenced, priority of possession and improvement shall govern the award when the law has been fully complied with by each party. A mere possession, however, without satisfactory improvements, will not secure the tract to the first occupant when a subsequent claimant shows his full compliance with the law.

21. After an entry has been allowed to one party, you will make no investigation concerning it at the instance of any person except on instructions from this office. You will, however, receive all affidavits concerning such case, and forward the same to this office, accompanied by a statement of the facts as shown by your records.

22. Prior to entry it is competent for you to order an investigation, on sufficient grounds, set forth under oath of a party in interest and substantiated by the affidavits of disinterested and credible witnesses.

MANNER OF OBTAINING TITLE.

23. When title is sought by private entry, the party will himself make oath to the following application, which must be presented to the register:

hereby apply, under the provisions of the Revised Statutes of the United States relating to the sale of coal-lands of the United States, to purchase the quarter of section —, in township ———, of range, in the district of lands subject to sale at the land-office at, and containing acres; and I solemnly swear that no portion of said tract is in the possession of any other party; that I am twenty-one years of age, a citizen of the United States (or have declared my intention to become a citizen of the United States), and have never held nor purchased lands under said act, either as an individual or as a member of an association; and I do further swear that I am well acquainted with the character of said described land, and with each and every legal subdivision thereof, having frequently passed over the same; that my knowledge of said land is such as to enable me to testify understandingly with regard thereto; that said land contains large deposits of coal, and is chiefly valuable therefor; that there is not, to my knowledge, within the limits thereof, any vein or lode of quartz or other rock in place bearing gold, silver, or copper, and that there is not within the limits of said land, to my knowledge, any valuable deposit of gold, silver, or copper. So help me God.

24. Thereupon the register, if the tract is vacant, will so certify to the receiver, stating the price, and the applicant, or his duly authorized agent, must then pay the amount of purchase money.

25. The receiver will then issue to the purchaser a duplicate receipt, and at the close of the month the register and receiver will make returns of the sales to the General Land-Office, from whence, when the proceedings are found regular, a patent or complete title will be issued; and on surrender of the duplicate receipt such patent will be delivered, at the option of the patentee, either by the Commissioner at Washington or by the register at the district land-office.

26. This disposition at private entry will be subject to any valid prior adverse right which may have attached to the same land, and which is protected by section 2348.

27. Second. When the application to purchase is based on a priority of possession, etc., as provided for in section 2348, the claimant must, when the township plat is on file in your office, file his declaratory statement for the tract claimed sixty days from and after the first day of his actual possession and improvement. Sixty days, exclusive of the first day of possession, etc., must be allowed.